March 8, 2010

Colgate Prepares to Host St. Lawrence

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Colgate men’s hockey team will host St. Lawrence in a best of three ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series starting this Friday evening at Starr Rink. All games are slated for a 7 p.m. start.

The winner of this series will punch their ticket to Albany for the following weekend’s semifinals and championship game.

Colgate, 15-13-6 overall and 12-8-2 in league play, earned a first round bye on February 26 with combination of a 3-2 victory over Rensselaer and Dartmouth’s win at St. Lawrence. It will mark the first time the Raiders have hosted a best of three quarterfinal series at Starr since 2005-06 when Colgate rallied to win the final two games versus Quinnipiac to advance to the semifinals.

The Raiders enter the weekend with a three-game win streak and a four-game unbeaten streak. Colgate last played February 27 as it upset then 15th-ranked Union 5-2 on Senior Day.

St. Lawrence, 17-14-7 overall and 9-8-5 in league play, comes to Hamilton as the fifth seeded team. The Saints scored twice in the final five minutes of the third and deciding game to close out 12th-seeded Clarkson 3-2. All three games of the battle of the North Country were decided by one goal with St. Lawrence prevailing in overtime Friday and Clarkson returning the favor the following evening. Mike McKenzie’s 12th goal of the year with 1:23 left in regulation lifted the Saints into the quarterfinal matchup.

The last time these two teams met in a play-off series at Starr was 2007-08 as Colgate won the last two games of the first-round series to advance to the quarterfinals, where it upset Clarkson and moved onto Albany. Since that series, the Saints have won the last four meetings, including a 3-2 victory in overtime at Starr Rink on January 30.